St. John the Baptist Montello-History

The Catholic presence in our area goes back to 1673 when Father Jacques Marquette travelled down the Fox River from Green Bay to the Mississippi River.  Fr. Marquette, guided by  the native Iroquois, camped near an outcrop of granite, which he named "Mont de l"Eau, which in the mid-19th century came to be Montello.  By 1850, a small log church was built on the site of the granite outcrop, replaced a few years later with a more substantial structure.  The parish was served by a variety of travelling priests for a few years. By 1887, Father Honeyman, the fifth  pastor of record in Montello, had added a school to the parish, which until its closing in 1969, averaged between 100 and 150 students each year.

The current church building housing St. John the Baptist Parish,3 blocks east of the original structure, was built in 1903.  The school building was moved to the new location the following year, where it served the parish until its demolition in 1965. The new school built to replace it now serves as our parish center.  Good Shepherd Parish, originally a mission church of St. John's, dedicated the church in Westfield in 1961.

For over 300 years, the Catholic presence in Marquette County has continued to be active and vital.